


<C*£cs <c 



'<-<<..<& 3 



^?<r<c~ 












{LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.} 



j [FORCE COLLECTION.] | 

} <K,i. 'BTl^O } 

t UNITED STATES OP AMERICA, f 





i.«^5*K ^ 




<r<z « 




■<j^ * 




<T<& C ' ' 


C" 


*C«c«r 


C?< 


<!<«£*: 


<"• 


•«r~^cr 



c: <^ 



r7r «c <:' 



«c<r « < 



c<§£. <: 



< <X" *£? <<< ■ c **Cc ^4C < 

«C1_^ * ' <« c<" c "<r< 









"•■ CSi<::< ^^^^^ 



ISC C<MS 

* ^r «?jc <3 1< <- 









3 £Cj«&:$ 






THE NEW BIRTH. 



DISCOURSE 



BY THE 



REVEREND JOHN FLETCHER, 



LATE 



VICAR OF I.IADELEY, SALOP, 



IN 



ENGLAND. 



If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: Old 

things are f lass ed away, behold! all 

things are become ne t w % 

ST. PAUL. 



WASHINGTON CITY: 

A. £c G. WAY, PRINTERS. 



1808. 



fcTH 



o 



'set*'' 



A DISCOURSE, &c. 



JOHN III. 3. 

Jesus answered, and said unto him, verily, verily, I say 
unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot 
see the kingdom of God, 

THE corruption of the christian wotld, and 
the almost general lukewarmness of those who have 
some respect for religion, render it impossible to 
preach openly and constantly the deep truths of 
Christianity without giving general offence. 

How naturally, having made some efforts towards 
salvation, do we repose ourselves as if we were at 
the end of our career! Perhaps we even think our- 
selves sure of the prize before we have begun the 
race I And if any one should venture to shew us the 
folly and danger of such conduct, we regard him as 
a melancholy person, who considers only the dark 
side of things, and who takes a sorrowful pleasure to 
make us view them in the same light with himself. 

This is one of the reasons why those who are 
commissioned to shew us the way of salvation, are 
afraid to dwell upon what Jesus Christ has said con- 
cerning the difficulties of the way, and the small 
number of those who walk therein. Indeed, if we 
ourselves are in the broad way that leadeth to de- 



sanction, it is not surprising that we should speak 
but seldom of the unfrequented path that leads to 
life ; and that we should but feebly and sparingly 
press those truths by which at length worldlings 
must be either convinced or confounded. But it is 
certain, that if we are more sincere, a thousand 
difficulties will rise up to deter us, and shake the 
resolutions which we have formed to resist the tor- 
rent of prejudice and ungodliness. 

We fear being accused of want of charity, if w T e 
declare as strongly as the scriptures does, that if any 
man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his. We 
are afraid of being charged with preaching a new 
doctrine, if we declare boldly with St. James, that he 
noho is the friend of the world is the enemy of God. Or 
with St. Paul, that she who liveth in pleasure is dead 
while she liveth. And we find by sorrowful experi- 
ence, that we must submit to be counted visionaries, 
and enthusiasts, or cease to declare with the same 
apostle, that the true christian is a man who glories 
only in the cross of Christ ; who being justified by faith, 
has really fieace with God; that he feels the fieace of 
God in his soul, as a seal of the pardon of his sins. 
That he rejoices in ho/ie of the ghry of God, and that 
he glories in tribulation, because the love of God is 
shed abroad in his heart by the holy ghost given unto him. 
For it is certain that the world is always the same, 
and that the doctrine of Christ, as well as his cross, 
is still to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the 
Greeks foolishness : that it still excites the indigna- 
tion of those who falsely call themselves children of 
God, and is ridiculed by those whom the foolish wis- 
dom of this world fills with presumption. Never- 
theless as among those who reject the council of God 
in giving it the names of enthusiasm, and dangerous 
re very ; there are some who are distinguished by 
their good desires* and by some sparks of zeal for 



the religion of our fathers : and as among those who 
fight against God, many do it in ignorance, believing 
that they do him service; let us strive to explain in 
this discourse, one of those essential truths of Chris- 
tianity, upon which these half christians meditate so 
rarely, and decry so often, viz. The doctrine of our 
regeneration, or new birth in Jesus Christ. 

And to sustain the attention by the order of the 
matter, as well as by the importance of the subject, 
let us examine, 

First, upon what occasion our Lord Jesus Christ 
declared, that except a man be bom again > he cannot 
see the kingdom of God? 

Secondly, what are we to understand by these ex- 
pressions, to be born again ; to be regenerated? 

Thirdly, what are the reasons upon which the 
absolute necessity of our regeneration is founded ; 
and how easy, and yet dangerous, it is to take the 
reformation of our manners for the regeneration of 
our 

Lastly, how we may come to a true renovation, 

without which no man can see the kingdom of God. 

Reader, if you love the truth, and if you have re- 

eternai son of God, whose words we 

are pow to consider, lift up to him a mind disen- 

prejudice, and beseech him to apply to 

,:t and mine, the profound truths of our 

ight them himself during the days of 

and he still gives the knowledge of them 

lctton of his spirit. Yes, divine redeemer J 

Let thy grace teach us, and thy word shall be in this 

hour also a light unto our feet 1 Deign to shew u& 

the path which conducts to thee, and give us the 

.'■: to ran therein and follow thee 

in the regeneration, until we enter in by thee into 

thy kingdom ; for thou art alone the path, the ek>or> 

the truth, and the life I 

a 2 



6 

PART THE FIRST. 

To whom^ and how our Saviour preached Regenera- 
tion. 

THE evangelist teaches us, that Mcode?nus, a 
Jew, as remarkable far his attachment to his reli- 
gion, as for his knowledge his reputation, and his 
rank, having heard of the miracles of Jesus, con- 
cluded that he was a prophet sent of God, and 
came to see him by night ; probably to put to him 
questions concerning the kingdom of God, which 
all the pious Jews then attentively waited for. Our 
Lord knowing that the ideas which Nicodtmus had 
of his kingdom, were not less gross than those of 
the rest of the nation, took this occasion to unde- 
ceive and instruct him. He declares to him, that 
the kingdom of heaven i& of a nature so spiritual, 
that a man far from having power to enter, cannot 
be in a state even to see it, without a real conver- 
sion. I say to youj adds he, that except a man be 
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 

As if he had said, do not deceive yourself, Mco- 
demus; my kingdom is not of this world ; thou hast 
formed false ideas of it ; few of mankind can see it, 
and thou canst not enter into it thyself. Thy tem- 
perance and moral virtues, thy zeal for the religion 
of your fathers, and the exactness with which thou 
fulfillest thy exterior duties, have not yet prepared 
thee for the presence of God. If thou art not deli- 
vered out of the estate in which thou art at present, 
know that thy soul will always remain encompassed 
with darkness as thick as that which envelopes an 
infant who has not yet seen the light. Thou re- 
joicest in a life animal and earthly : but thou hast 
lost in Adam a life spiritual and divine. Thou hast 
lost the life of God out of thy soul, and thou canst 
not recover it but by being born again. Without a 



Spiritual birth, it will be as impossible for thee to 
see God and rejoice in the brightness of his face, as 
for an infant not yet born to discover the sun, and 
rejoice in his. light. 

This doctrine, altogether strange as it must ap- 
pear to the natural man, could not be wholly un- 
known to a Jewish doctor. God had promised to 
the Israelites, by the mouth of his prophets, ilv&the 
would put a new spirit within them ; that he would 
take away the hea^t of stone out of their flesh, and give 
them an heart of flesh ; that he would circumcise, or 
change entirely their hearts, that they might love 
him with ail their soul, and with all their strength. 
David had demanded of God, with torrents of tears 5 
that he would create in him a clean heart, and renew) 
a right spirit within him. And Ezekiel had cried to 
all the people, put away from you all your iniquities^ 
make you new hearts and new spirits, for why will you 
die, O house of Israel ? We may believe that after 
these promises, these prayers, these declarations} 
these menaces, expressed so clearly in the old testa- 
ment, a sincere Jew must have some idea of that 
spiritual change which distinguishes the faithful 
from the children of this world. But as in the pre- 
sent day, among the people of God, there are s&me 
who conscientiously fulfil many moral duties, and 
walk with sincerity in the exterior ordinances of re- 
ligion, without at the same time knowing by expe- 
rience what the new birth is, so it was in the times 
of our Saviour. Mcodemus, notwithstanding all his 
virtue, his religion, his zeal, his sincerity* and his 
love for instruction, was not yet regene rated : and 
consequently he augmented the number of those 
righteous persons, who think they have no need of 
deep repentance, or spiritual renovation. 

Being therefore struck with astonishment at hear- 
ing the words of Christ, and being yet so blind as 
td understand them in a gross and literal sense> 



& 

how can a man be born again, cried he, when he is 
eld; can he enter a second time into his mother** 
womb, to be bo 'n ? That which is born of the Jlexh is 
Jleshj replied Jesus. In vain would you be born a 
second time of flesh and blood, which cannot enter 
into the kingdom of Heaven. You could not there- 
by be in a state to enter into that kingdom, for you 
can only carry out of your mother's womb a nature 
corrupt, sensual, and earthly. It is of a spiritual 
birth 1 speak; for only that which is born of the shi- 
rk is spirit. And as the kingdom of God is purely 
spiritual I repeat to thee again, verily, verily, if a 
man be not bom of water and of the spirit he cannot 
enter into it. If the pure waters of grace, of which 
those of baptism are emblematic, do not render white 
as snow those sins which are red as scarlet; and 
if the powerful operation of the spirit of God does 
not renew all the faculties of his soul, causing him 
to be born again of incorruptible seed, by which he 
recovers the image of his creator, and becomes 
thus a partaker of the divine nature, he shall have 
no part in the inheritance of the saints in light: the 
entrance of that kingdom shall be shut against him 
for ever. 

And as if it was not sufficient to have twice de- 
clared i^egeneration absolutely necessary to salva- 
tion, and to have supported his second solemn de- 
claration by the word (not to say the oath} veriiy, 
repeated also twice, the son of God seeing surprize 
painted upon the face of Mcodemus ; and discovering 
by those eyes which sound the hearts and the reigns, 
that he could not receive his doctrine, because he 
could not comprehend by what operation of the spi- 
rit a soul can be regenerated : the son of God, 1 a 
prays him, as with tenderness, not to be astonis* d 
if he should say to all those who were present as 
well as to him, Ye mut be born again. And I 
lest that which is mysterious in the renewing of the 



soul, should cause him to reject what he had said as 
absurd and impossible, with a patience and wisdom 
truly admirable, he strives to make him see the pos- 
sibility of feeling the effects of the grace which re- 
generates, and at the same time the impossibility of 
describing exactly its operations. 

How great brevity and and force are united in the 
reasonings of our saviour! The wind, says he, blowetk 
where it Usteth, and thou hearest the sound- thereof; 
but thou canst not tell whence it cometh. nor whither it 
goeth) so is every one that is born of the spirit. As 
if he had said, thou dost not doubt but the wind is 
something real. Meantime ycu can neither paint it r 
nor describe it to a man who could neither feel nor 
hear it ; much less could you say whence it arises 
or whither it goeth. In like manner a sinner who 
is regenerated, into whose soul God has breathed 
the breath of spiritual life, knows that the clouds of 
his understanding are dissipated: that God has call- 
ed him out of darkness mtc his marvellous light, and 
that the sun of righteousness has risen upon him. 
He discovers with transports of holy joy, the happy 
revolution it has made within him. He sees that he 
is passed from death unto life, and he feels that he is 
a child of God because he has the spirit of adop- 
tion which cries in his heart Abba. ...father! Because 
the consolations of the Lord as a spiritual "zephyr, 
if I may so express myself, refresh his soul : and 
because he is made partaker of a power which was 
before unkown to him, and of a felicity which eye 
hath not seen, which ear hath not heard, and which 
has never elevated the heart of the man who is nor 
regenerated. Eat although he feels these changes 
in himself, it is impossible for him to paint them, or 
describe how the spirit of God has wrought them. 
No, he cannot make a man whose eyes the Lord has 
not opened, see this kingdom of God which is esta- 
blished ir L He can m r taste tl 



10 

waters springing up into life eternal, this happiness 
unutterable, which inundates the heart of a believer. 
It is the pearl of great price, the concealed treasure, 
and the new name which none knoweth but he who 
receiveth it. It. is the word of life, the hidden man- 
na, which each must see, which each must touch 
with his own hands, which each must taste with his 
own mouth. It is the mystery of the faith preserved 
in a pure conscience. It is the s^ed incorruptible, 
without which no man can be born of God, nor see 
the kingdom of heaven. 

An answer so positive might have satisfied Mco- 
demus, but his incredulity forced him still to cry out, 
how can these things be ? How true it is that the na- 
tural man, though he should be just, sincere, tem- 
perate, and in some sort religious, cannot compre- 
hend the things of the spirit of God! How true it is 
that they are foolishness to him, and that he regards 
them always as things impossible, unless God reveals 
them to him as he does not to the world. Be not 
then surprized at their behaviour, to whom we often 
announce the profound truths of Christianity. The 
virtuous Nicodemus himself cried out, how can these 
things be ? The half-christians may also cry out, 
this is carrying things- too far ; this is yielding to 
enthusiasm; this is to lose ourselves in the clouds. 
The best way to stop the mouths of these unbeliev- 
ers is to answer them as our Lord answered Mco- 
domus : Art thou, said he, a teacher in Isra?l and 
knowest not these things ? That which we know we 
declare, and that which we have seen we testify; but, 
blinded by your false wisdom, you receive not our 
testimony. If I have spoken to you of things material 
and terrestial, of the properties of the wind which 
you feel, and which you hear blowing every day up- 
on the earth, and ye believe not, being neither able 
to understand or render a reason for it : how could 
you believe and comprehend my discourse, if; I 



It 

should speak to you of spiritual and heavenly things : 
Of the secret operations of regenerating grace> the 
particularities of that second birth, without which no 
man can see the Lord ? It is thus that Jesus Christ 
confounds the ignorance and incredulity of this 
teacher in Israel, who knew not yet that which he 
should teach to others. Thus he gives him to un- 
derstand, and us with him, that religion does not 
consist in speculative dissertations upon the doc- 
trines which it proposes, but in an experimental 
knowledge of its mysteries, in an unshaken faith in 
the promises of God; in the joyful anticipation of 
that good which this faith procures for us, and in the 
living and powerful sentiments which lead instantly 
to the practice of all the duties of a new life. Rea- 
der do you desire to profit by these instructions of 
the son of God? If you believe that he who cannot 
lie or deceive, has declared, that you must be born 
again in order to enter his kingdom, do not lose a 
moment in vain speculations. Fall upon your knees 
before him who can soften your heart, and cause the 
scales to fall from your eyes. Demand of him that 
he may enable you to see and feel the absolute ne- 
cessity of regeneration, and that you may receive the 
grace to seek it with tears of sincere repentance. 
This is that which Mcodemus did. Notwithstanding 
the repugnance which at first he felt to receive the 
doctrine of regeneration, being convinced by the 
words of our Saviour, he at length devoted himself. 
He believed and became a new creature; fo» the 
Gospel teaches us, that he who dared not to come to 
Jesus but by night, and had spoken to him only to 
anake objections, confessed him openly, (and by con- 
sequence his doctrine) even when all his disciples 
had abandoned him. O let us be strengthened, that 
we may be as ready to imitate his faith, as the 
wordlings are to object with him, how can these 
filings be? 



12 

PART THE SECOND. 

What we are to understand by these expressions) "Tv 
be born again: to be regenerated" 

ALTHOUGH our Saviour refused to answer 
an unprofitable question of the Jewish doctor, upon 
the manner of a soui being regenerated, it is never- 
theless not impossible to explain what is the state of 
a soul that is born again, and in what regeneration 
doth consist, in general we may say it is that great 
change by which a man passes from a state of na- 
ture to a state of grace. He was an animal man ; in 
being born again he becomes a spiritual man. His 
.natural birth had made him like fallen Adam, to the 
old man, against whom God had pronounced the 
sentence of death, seeing it is the wages of sin. 
But his spiritual birth makes him like to Jesus 
Christ, to the new man, which is created according 
to God in righteousness and true holiness. He was 
before born a child of wrath, poud, sensual and un» 
believing; full of the love of the world and of self- 
love ; a lover of money and of earthly glory and plea- 
sure rather than a lover of God. But by regenera- 
tion, he is become a child, and an heir of ( *od, and 
a joint heir with Christ. The humility, the puiity, 
the love of Jesus, is shed abroad in his heart by the 
holy spirit which is given to him, making him bear 
the image of the second Adam, He is in Christ a 
new creature; old things are passed away, all things . 
are become new. All the powers and faculties of. 
his soul are renovated. His understanding hereto- 
fore covered with darkness, is illuminated by the 
e rimental knowledge which he has of God, and 

5 son Jesus Christ. His conscience asleep and 
insensible, awakes and speaks with a fidelity irre- 
proachable. His hard heart is,softened and broken. 
His will, stubborn and perverse, is softened, yields, 



|3 

and becomes conformable to the will of God. His 
passions unruly, earthly and sensual, yield to the 
conduct of grace, and turn of themselves to objects 
invisible and heavenly ; and the members of his 
body, servants more or less to iniquity, are now 
employed in the service of righteousness unto 
ness. Hence his soul, his body, his spirit, run with 
equal rapidity in the straight path of obedience ; and 
all that is within him cries out, God forbid that I 
should glory, save in the cross of Jesus Christ my 
Saviour, by which I am crucified to the world, and 
the world unto me. I know no man after the fleshu 
I live not, but Christ liveth in me, and the life I live, 
is by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave, 
himself for me. 

Such is the prodigious change which a living, 
faith, produces in the soul of a repentant sinner. 
Such is the change which the Apostle calls a new 
creation, a resurrection from the dead, a flashing from 
death unto life, the power of God unto salvation* unto 
eve y y one that believeth ; and by which he is raised 
with Christ, and walks in newness of life. 

But to be more particular. We may reasonably 
suppose that when our Lord said to Mcodemus, a 
man cannot see the kingdom of God without being 
born again, he meant to compare the spiritual birth 
of a child of God, with the natural birtt f a child 
of Adam; thus to have just ideas of t ■ , it 13 

needful to consider the second, and to rise from that 
which is visible and material, to that which is invi- 
sible and celestial. 

An infant which is not yet born, feels neither the 
air nor the fluids by which it exists. It understands 
not: the organs of sense are not in a condition to 
act It discovers nothing; its eyes being closed to 
the light and all sorts of objects. It is true that 
when it approaches the birth, a principle of life is 
manifested, and some feeble movements begin to 

B 



14 

distinguish it from a mass of matter; but the objects 
•which surround it are not the less unknown. Al- 
though it is in the world, it has no more idea of that 
which passes therein than if the world did not exist; 
not only because the senses are not yet unfolded, 
but because of the thick veil which surrounds, and 
hinders its discovering the objects that are so near 
it. So it is with the man who is not regenerated. 
In God he lives and moves and has his being. But 
he is not sensible of his presence, nor of that divine 
breathing which nourishes the spiritual life of those 
who are born again. The things of God, which 
present themselves continually to the mind- of the 
children of God, make no impression upon him. 
God calls, but he understands not his voice. Christ 
offers himself to him as the bread that cometh down 
from heaven, but he cannot taste that the Lord is 
good. God would manifest himself to him, as he does 
not unto the world, but the eyes of his understand- 
ing are covered with so thick a cloud that he cannot 
discover him. He is a stranger and foreigner, as 
0t. Paul declares ; he is alienated from the life of 
God by the ignorance that is in him: an ignorance 
that makes him insensible of its existence He may 
have some beginnings of spiritual life and motion 
before he is regenerated. He may feel good desires, 
and make efforts to turn to God; but his spiritual 
senses, are not yet unfolded, and the veil of obscu- 
rity still covering his soul, he cannot see the sun of 
righteousness, nor the day of life eternal: he is not 
yet born of God. 

Let us yet continue the parallel. The birth of an 
infant is commonly accompanied with sorrows inex- 
pressible. This blessing costs sighs, tears, and 
even piercing cries. In sorrow shalt thou bring forth 
children, says God to Eve, after she had sinned ; and 
this sentence is also, more or less executed in a spi- 
ritual sense upon all sinners who enter into life by re* 



15 

generation. IfLydia felt the sorrows of repentance 
but for a moment before the Lord opened her heart; 
if three thousand persons were pricked to the heart 
during the preaching 1 of St. Peter, and were imme- 
diately after regenerated, receiving remission of sins 
and the gift of the holy ghost: the scripture teaches 
us that David, Ifezekiah, Manassah and St. Paul, did 
not pass so soon nor so easily from death unto life. 
But however the circumstances may differ, it is cer- 
tain that the change which accompanies the new 
birth is such that none can be insensible of it who 
have experienced it. A child is no sooner born than 
he exists in a manner altogether different. He 
breathes; he feels the air that surrounds him : and 
by an alternate motion receives it in and sends it 
forth continually. All his corporeal senses are af- 
fected by, and employed upon, their proper objects. 
His eyes are opened to the light, and thence he per- 
ceives an infinite variety of new things. His ears 
are struck with a thousand different sounds ; and the 
faculty which he has of touching, tasting, and feel- 
ing, discovers to him every moment something of 
those material things that are under the sun. Re- 
generation causes an equal revolution in the soul of a 
sinner. He is no sooner born of God than he becomes 
sensible of the presence of the Supreme Being. 
He can say by experience w r ith David, thou hast be- 
set me behind and before, and laid thy hand upon me* 
lie renders back without ceasing to God, by prayer 
and praise, the breath of spiritual life which he re- 
ceives by faith ; and acquiring every moment new 
strength, his spiritual senses are unfolded, exer- 
cised, and become capable of discerning spiritual 
objects. 

The eyes of his understanding are opened. He 

sees in every place him that is invisible. God who 

commanded the light to shine into the darkness, 

ies into his heart, and enlightens him with the 



!6 

knowledge of the glory of God in the face of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. God lifts upon him the light of 
his countenance. With Abraham he sees the day of 
the Lord, the day which is to him the beginning of 
eternal life ; and seeing it he rejoices with joy un- 
speakable. His ears are opened as well as his eyes. 
God does not now call in vain. He understands, he 
knows the voice of his shepherd. He comes to him. 
He tastes the good word of God, and the powers of 
the world to come. In a word, his spiritual senses 
are all in action ; the veil is taken away: the things 
of God are no longer mystery or foolishness. He 
knows, he comprehends them. He feels the peace 
which passes all understanding, the joy of the holy 
ghost, and the love of God shed abroad in his heart. 
He knows that he is born of God. He knows that 
lie dwells in God, and God in him. 

This is your state, reader, if you are a believer; 
if you have that faith which is the substance- of things 
hofiedfor, and the evidence of things not seen. But if 
you have never experienced that inward change, 
judge yourself that you be not judged of the Lord. 
Be deeply sensible and confess, that because you are 
not born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. 
Consider the reasons which prove the absolute neces- 
sity of regeneration. They will infallibly convince 
you if you suffer the grace of God to make you feel 
all their force and importance. 

PART THE THIRD. 

Why no man can see the kingdon of God without 
being born again. 

It is certain from the testimony of sacred scrip- 
ture, that before the fall of Adam, our nature partici- 
pated of a holiness and goodness, of which we have 
not a\iy remains in -coming into the world. In thb 



17 

state of spiritual life, man loved God with all his 
heart, with ail his soul, and with all his mind. He 
served him with all his strength. He gave him 
thanks for all things. He rejoiced in him with joy 
unspeakable, and he had a constant communion with 
him by the holy spirit, of which he was the temple, 
But by one man sin entered into the world) and 
death by sin, and death passed upon all men because 
all have sinned. Thus we are born children of 
wrath, not only destined to bodily death, and ex- 
posed to death eternal, but already spiritually dead 
in original sin. Conceived in sin, and shapen in 
iniquity, we are alienated from the life of God, having 
only carnal and earthly affections, in which St. Paul 
declares consists the death of our souls. And as 
God is not the God of the dead but the living, it is 
clear, that before we can call Jesus Lord by the holy 
ghost, or father by the spirit of adoption; before we 
can experience that which St. Paul calls the life of 
God, we must feel inwardly the power of the resur- 
rection of Jesus Christ, and receive from him a new 
heart and a right spirit ; spirituai^and heavenly af- 
fections. . This is the sacred oil with which God 
anoints true christians. The want of this oil, of 
this vivifying grace, it is which causes the foolish 
virgins to be excluded from the kingdom of heaven, 
as well as the adulterers. 

But airain. As the decrees of God are unchang- 
able, the heavens shall be shaken, and the truth of 
God fail, before a child of Adam shaH see the face 
of God without sanctification, and the renewing of 
the holy ghost. You must be transformed by the 
wing of your mind, in order to prove his holy, 
and acceptable, and perfect will. It ordains that: 
you shall fmt of the old man, and put on ike new man^ 
created after him in right eoibsrt&S) and true Iioliness ; 
and he declares solemnly by the mouth of his son, 
that none shaii'see nis kingdom without being born 
2 2 



13 

again. Do not imagine that because God is good 
he will cease to be true, and that he forgets to be 
holy and just because he is patient. No, his mercy 
does not make him the father of lies, and you should 
remember, that though heaven and earth pass away^ 
his word shall not pass away. 

But do you still demand, why nothing that is im- 
pure and that defileth shall enter the kingdom o£ 
God ; and why there are none before his throne but 
the spirits of the just made perfect, and saints whose 
robes are washed and made white in the blood of 
the Lamb ? The reason is clear. Sin, that leprosy of 
the devil, must not offend HIM, whose eyes are too 
pure to see evil. Defilement and iniquity cannot 
dwell with the king of saints. There is no refuge, 
no dwelling place in the heavenly Jerusalem for vi* 
pers,d:gs, or swine : the proud, the passionate, ly- 
ing and revengeful persons ; the envious, the covet- 
ous, the sensual, cannot enter there; and if they, 
could, they would find God only a consuming fire. 
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord ? says 
David. He who hath clean hands, and a pure heart. 
Blessed are the pure in heart, says Jesus, for they 
shall see God. Miserable are those whose hearts 
are not purified, for they shall never see him There 
is no communion between light and darkness, between 
Christ and Belial. To see the face of God in righteous- 
ness, wc must be cleansed from our natural cor- 
ruption and become partakers of the nature of 
Christ, and of the image of God. 

From hence it appears that regeneration is the 
first degree of salvation, Grace is the only way to 
glory, and holiness the one foundation of true hap- 
piness. If we do not learn to know, in this world, 
Jesus Christ, who saves his people from their sins, 
we shall hear him say one day, depart from me, I 
know ye not, ye wjrkers of iniquity. God will receive 
feto his kingdom only those whom Christ shall 



13 

sanctify in soul, body, and spirit. As on the orrs 
side, sin is the seed of death, hell begins in those 
who are not regenerated. On the other, holiness la 
life eternal, and heaven is already opened in the be- 
lieving houl. He who believeth in me, saith Jesus* 
hath eternal life ; he has the earnest, the seal, and 
the foretaste of it. And as hell cannot be for those 
who are saved from their sins by Jesus, neither can- 
paradise be for those who are not partakers of the 
divine nature. We may add that it is as preposter- 
ous to flatter ourselves with the hope of glory with- 
out having passed through regeneration, as to hope 
to see noon day, without the intervention of the 
morning, or the summer of the year without the 

spring. 

Moreover, to rejoice in the pleasures that are at 
God's right hand for evermore, it is needful to have 
senses and a taste that correspond thereto. The 
swine trample pearls under their feet. Dogs prize 
an ingot of gold no more than a flint. The elevated 
discourse of a philosopher is insupportable to a stu- 
pid mechanic ; and an ignorant peasant introduced 
into a circle of men of learning and taste, is dis- 
gusted, sighs after his village, and declares no hour 
ever appeared to him so long. It would be the same 
to a man who is not regenerated, if we could sup- 
pose that God would so far forget his truth as to 
open to him the gate of Heaven. If his heart were 
not created anew ; if from a natural he were not 
changed to a spiritual man, however blameless he 
had been in his life, he would be as incapable o£ 
those transports of love which make the happiness 
of the glorified saints, as a horse is to admire the 
lustre of a diamond, or a swine to contemplate with 
delight the beautiful water of a pearl. 

He is ignorant of the language of the heavenly 
Canaan. He cannot expatiate on the love of Jesu& 
with the heavenly inhabitants. It would be insup- 



Bi 

portable for him now to meditate one hour on the 
perfections of God. What then shall he do among 
the Cherubim and Seraphim, and the spirits of just 
men made perfect, who draw from thence their trans- 
porting delights ? He loves the pleasures and com- 
forts of an animal life ; but are these the same with 
the exercises of the spiritual life ? Are they not ra- 
ther insupportable to him? And although he will 
not acknowledge it, does he not hate God in his 
heart ? Yes, he hates him, if his actions are to be 
credited rather than his words. He cannot employ 
himself one hour in prayer to Jesus without secretly 
wishing that the burthensome toil was concluded. 
His conversations, his readings, his amusements, as 
void of edification as of usefulness, rarely fatigue 
him ; but one hour of meditation or prayer is in- 
supportable. If he be not born again, not only he 
cannot be in a state to rejoice in the pleasures of 
Paradise, any more than a deaf man to receive with 
transport the most exquisite music, or a blind man 
to admire the works of the most eminent painters ; 
but the most ravishing delights of angels would 
cause in him an insupportable distaste Yes, he 
would banish himself from the presence of God, ra- 
ther than pass an eternity in prostrating himself be- 
fore the throne, and crying day and night, holy, holy, 
holy is the Lord of Hosts, who is, and who was, and 
who is to come ! . 

It is very easy for such an one to say with the 
crowd of worldlings, u I hope that God will be mer- 
ciful, and open to me the gate of heaven." But it is 
not so easy to haye just ideas of the heaven to which 
he hatters himself he shall go. It were to be wished 
that they would consider those words of our Lord, 
the kingdom of God is withm you. They prove clear- 
ly that Paradise consists more in the heavenly dis- 
positions of the hearts of the faithful, than in the 
glorious pomp of a local heaven, We see, in the 



'2 i 

book of Job, that -Satan, intermingling himself with 
the saints, presented himself with them before the 
throne. But was he the more happy ? No, the 
kingdom of darkness, and consequently his own hell 
was within him. On the contrary, we may easily 
conceive a saint in a local hell ; an Abedncgo in the 
burning fiery furnace, or a St. John in the cauldron 
of boiling' oil, yet happy by virtue of the kingdom 
of God within them, even righteousness and peace, 
and joy in the Holy Ghost. We conclude that the 
gate of heaven must be opened upon earth by rege- 
neration, and by the love of God, or that it will re- 
main shut forever ; and that a local paradise would 
be only a sorrowful prison to a man who was not re- 
generated ; because, carrying nothing thither but 
depraved and earthly appetites and passions, and 
finding nothing here but spiritual and celestial ob- 
jects, disgust and dissatisfaction must be the conse- 
quence ; and, like Satan, his own mind would be his 
hell. Sinners cannot now comprehend this. But 
when their day of grace shall be past, and they given 
over to a reprobate mind, they shall terribly feel the 
necessity of a spiritual birth in order to be delivered 
from hell, and to see the kingdom of heaven ; but, 
alas ! it will be then too late. 

To all these considerations permit me to add ano- 
ther which arises from the nature of the thing, and 
of itself claims our attention Good sense cannot 
but dictate to us, that drunkards, gluttons, and im* 
pure persons, in a word, all the servants of Belial, 
will in the great day, follow the master which they 
now serve. And is it not also clear ; that the unjust, 
the extortioners, the covetous, and all those who de- 
fend the interest of the kingdom of darkness, under 
the standard oi Mammon, shall be excluded the king* 
dom of heaven as well as their infernal leader? And 
can we doubt that the worldlings whose minds are 
more occupied with the pleasures and comforts of 



22 

this life, than with the love and glory of God, will, 
have their portion with Satan who is the God of this 
world-? Besides, does not reason convince us,»that a 
depraved soul, loaded with the weight of its own 
sensuality, will precipitate itself into the abyss, as a 
stone pressed by its own weight falls towards the 
centre ? And is it not as easy to conceive that the 
heaviest and dullest of the feathered animals, should 
soar like an eagle towards the sun, as to imagine 
that a soul that never had its conversation in heaven ; 
that a soul who had never received by regeneration 
the wings of a firm faith, a lively hope and a burning 
love, should be able to follow Jesus, and ascend to 
heaven with the triumphant army of the sons of 
God? We may then conclude, that our saviour's 
words are founded on eternal reason and justice, and 
that if a man be not born again he cannctsee the 
kingdom of God. 

PART THE FOURTH. 

DIVIDED INTO TWO SECTIONS. 

SECTION K 

Sow dangerous it is to take the regularity of our mari- 
ners for the regeneration of souls. 

PERHAPS some one will say, " I am convin- 
ced that perjured persons, debauchees, murderers, 
and those who act unjustly, shall never see the king- 
dom of heaven without being b'orn again. But I 
thank God I am not of this number. From my 
youth I have lived in the practice of temperance and 
justice : and I flatter myself I am also no stranger 
to religion. I constantly attend the church; I read 
the word of God ; I pray and communicate regular- 
ly. Are not these indubitable marks of my rege- 
neration ? And was I not born again of water, and of 
ihe holy spirit, in my baptism?" 



23 

.Before I answer this question, permit me to ask 
some which are not less important, liuvc you );. ice 
with God? Have you the remission of your sins? 
lias God revealed his son in you ? When you exa- 
mine yourself, do you feel that Christ is in you the 
hope of glory ? Have you received the spirit of adop- 
tion, witnessing with your spirit that you are a child 
of God? Have you ever beheld the light of God's 
countenance, and felt the powers of the world to 
come ? Do you taste the heaven which faithful souls 
enjoy even in this life, the love of God shed abroad, in 
their heart by the holy ghost which is given unto them? 
Is your soul athirst for the living God ? Does it pant 
after him as the thirsty hart after the brooks of 
water? Do you count all things as dung and dross 
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus I 
Are you no longer conformed to this evil world, but 
do you live as .a stranger and a pilgrim upon earth ? 
Do you press with joy towards the heavenly Jerusa- 
lem, in which are already your treasure and your 
heart? Does your soul ascend to God, even as the 
flame towards heaven? Do you celebrate in all your 
conversation the praises of him who has called out 
of darkness into his marvellous light ? And do you 
find within you the humility, the patience, the dis- 
interestedness, the renunciation of the world, the 
holy joy, the tender zeal, the constant sweetness, the 
desire to.be with Christ, the modest gravity, the un- 
feigned love, which characterizes true believers. 

If these questions do not surprise you, if the spi- 
rit of God have enabled you to sound the depths 
which they contain ; if your most lively concern be, 
that you experience those heavenly dispositions in a 
low degree; and that your most vehement desire is, 
that you may grow in grace every moment, until 
you feel all the power of the resurrection of Jesus*: 
you are a child of God, you are born again! Whe- 
ther as Samuelyou have walked in the way of the Lord 



24 



from your infancy, or like St. Feud, beheld the light 
of the sun of righteousness in the midst of your 
career, it imports not : all is yours, for you are 
Christ's, and Christ is God's, 

But if, far from finding in your heart, and in your 
conversation, these marks of a new and spiritual 
birth* your conscience rises against you, and you are 
forced to confess, that yau feel within you rather the 
natural than the spiritual man, being more occupied 
with earth than with heaven; with yourself and the 
world, than with the love of Jesus, and the glory to 
which he calls you; we should only lay a stumbling 
-block in your way, if we did not cry to you in 
the words of our divine master, ye must be born 
again, or you cannot see the kingdom of God. We 
mean not by this that you must reform your life 
even as scandalous sinners. No, you live, it may be, 
according to the strict rules of justice and temper- 
ance. You give alms, you fulfil the exterior duties 
of religion. We .may believe even that, with Mco- 
demus, you do all this in the integrity of your heart, 
and as unto God. But the Lord declares that al- 
though you have the form of godlines you have hi- 
therto denied its power. He declares that your 
righteousness, which does not exceed that of the 
Pharisees, will never introduce you into the king- 
dom of God. Yes, were you a second Cornelius, a 
devout man, fearing God with all your house, giving 
much alms to the people, seeking God with fasting 
and continual prayer; if God hath not accepted you 
in the beloved; if by faith in the name of Jesus you 
have not received remission of your sins; if the ho- 
ly spirit have not descended upon you ; if God who 
knoweth the heart beareth not witness to you as to 
him, purifying your heart by faith ; your baptism 
has not saved you. And although you may not be 
far from the kingdom, you are not yet possest of it, 
you are not yet regenerated. You have the fear of 



S3 

the Lord but not his love. You are not yet a child 
of God. You still want the spirit of adoption in 
order to be a christian ; for in Christ Jesus neither 
circumcision, nor uncircumcision availeth any thing, 
but a new creation, an entire change of our soul, ns 
well as of our life. In a word, a new heart, a right 
spirit: the kingdom of God within us. 

If these things be so, (and they cannot be denied 
without trampling under foot the truth as it is in 
Jesus) suffer the word of God to penetrate into your 
soul. This day hear the voice of God, and harden 
not your heart. The things which you read regard 
your eternal peace. Ah! beware lest your unbelief 
hide them from your eyes forever. Are you one of 
those saints of the world, who make a fair shew in 
the ilesh ; and who, far from suffering persecution 
for the cross of Christs are honored of men, because 
you still conform to the present world ? who con- 
tent with your moral duties, and exterior piety, do 
not come to Jesus with the repentance and importu- 
nity of the Publican ? Suffer this foolishness of 
preaching to pull off your mask. Renounce your 
own wisdom: te.r off the vain robe of your own 
righteousness; and smiting your breast come to 
Christ with the Publicans and Harlots, and groan for 
regeneration, without which you cannot see the 
kingdom of heaven. JVicodrmm has set you the ex- 
ample. He at length received the kingdom as a 
little child, and was more than conqueror through 
the blood of the lamb. Tread in his blessed foot- 
steps. And if you also are a master in Israel, fol- 
low his simplicity, and triumph like him overall 
your prejudices, your doubts, and the fear of those 
who say they are the Israel of God and are not; and 
having followed him in the regeneration, you shall 
soon follow him to glory. 

But if you are an open sinner, if you live in the 
practice of injustice, intemperance, impurity, or 



26 

falsehood; thirsting after gold or pleasure; despis- 
ing the name of God and his word; we need not at- 
tempt to prove that you are not regenerate. Your 
sins have a voice, they cry as Jesus did to such gross 
offenders, you are of your father the devil, for his 
works you do. You know it is so; your own heart 
condemns you. Wonder not then that we denounce 
your utter perdition, in the name of God, if you are 
not horn again. Strive to open your eyes, and be- 
hold the corruption of your heart, that depraved 
source of your ungodly manners. Behold the de- 
stroying angel behind you, the eternal abyss open- 
ing under your feet, and the Lord Jesus ready to 
take vengeance on you as his enemies. O that the 
idea of these awful events may awaken, before their 
reality overwhelms you ! O may the fear of the 
Lord be in you the beginning of wisdom I This mo- 
ment turn to your gracious God ; to-morrow may 
be too late. This is the clay of salvation for you. 
If you neglect it, the coming night may be .the com- 
mencement of night eternal to your soul. And will 
you trifle with a danger like this ? Will you do noth- 
ing to escape the sword of divine justice? If your 
danger move you not, consider your interest. This 
•would be sufficient to produce an entire change in 
you, if you would consider it seriously. In this 
wotld God offers you the pardon of your sins, and 
a happiness which can only be surpassed by that of 
glorified saints ; and after this life a kingdom : a 
kingdom in the heavens. And will you carelessly 
renounce this, because you cannot obtain it without 
pain? Rather than be born again do you resolve to 
lose a crown of eternal glory ? To lose your God, 
your Saviour, your all? Yea, to destroy yourself? 
Be not deceived. If the kingdom of heaven be shut 
against you, the kingdom of darkness, the second 
i becomes your portion. If the kingdom of 
God be not established witfein you ; if the foundation 



be not laid in your soul in this life, L\ 
eousness of Christ; the peace of God, and 
jov of the holy ghost, the worm that dieth not, and 

[ire that is not quenched, shall terribly revt 
your contempt for the blood of the covenant, in 
h your sins mig ay, if you had 

kling. He not offended at 
our freedom, God knows that if we spread before 
you the treasures of his wrath, which he reserves 
for the day of wrath, it is that you may fly to those 
of his mercy. These are still open. His great and 
precious promises are stiil for you. By these you 
may be made partakers of the divine nature in this 
life, and after death of the inheritance among the 
sa ii its .in light* 

SECTION II. 

The difference between the reformation of a fiharisee^ 
and the regeneration of a christian^ more particular- 
ly considered. 

To the preceding exhortation permit me to add an 
advice which is of the last importance. Many sin- 
ners acknowledge the necessity of regeneration 
without being profited thereby, because they con- 
found it with reformation of life. Reader beware 
of this error. Remember, it is not sufficient to die 
to sin, if we be not raised into newness of life. It 
is a little thing to say, u by the grace of God I am 
not what I was, 5 ' if we cannot add, " by the same 
grace I am what I never have been." It is a little 
,:; to be able to say, "I am no swearer, drunkard, 
unclean person ; I do not walk after the flesh : un- 
less we feel at the same time that we wa Jk j n the 
straight path of faith, hope, and divine love. 

You are no longer unjust, well ; but like Znr^/^, ta 
do yo« gi 1 'v the half of your ly^oclo to feed the poor, 
if you have wronged any man do you restore 



23 

fourfold ? You are no longer sensual and voluptuous ; 
feiH are your affections spiritual and divine ? You 
are no longer enslaved to passion and anger ; but 
does the peace of God which passes all understand- 
ing, keep your soul in the sweetness and patience of 
the lamb of God ? You are no longer filled with that 
pride which made you hate your superiors, despise 
your inferiors, and shun your equals; but in its 
place, do you feel in your heart the poverty of spirit, 
and the humility of Jesus? Do you never indulge 
what one calls " a polite pride ?" Do you never pique 
yourself upon your gentility y or upon any worldly 
distinction ? You are perhaps an eminent person, 
and you feel it is unworthy an honest man to lie or 
calumniate ; but do you always firmly take part with 
the truth ? Do you comfort, reprove, or exhort your 
brethren with the sweetness and zeal of a christian I 
You no longer mock at the word of God ; but do 
you meditate upon it day and night ? and is it as 
sweet to your soul as honey to your palate ? 

You are convinced it is a great sin to take the 
name of God in vain ; but do you rejoice with re-~ 
verence every time you pronounce, or think of that 
sacred name ?. You detest impiety, you cry out 
against that deluge of iniquity which threatens to 
destroy us ; but are you not either transported with 
bitter zeal, or lukewarm and filled with vain confi- 
dence ? You lament over many that you see at 
church, and at the holy table ; but when you are 
there, do you rejoice as in the presence of the Lord ? 
I)o..;s all that is within you cry out by happy expe- 
rience, how dreadful U this place ? Tt is the dwelling 
cf the mighty God I Do you inwardly feed upon the- 
bread of aro^ ls • D ° > r ° u drink of the waters that 
spins up. into everlasting life I Do you taste that the* 
-i ! -a-- good ? 

You enter regularly into your closet, and you.: 
blame* those who neglect to pray totfaeir father who,. 



Rett] in secret; but do you there seek your God 
•with tears until he manifests himself to you as he 
does not unto the world ? Are you sick of love (to 
use the expression of Solomon) feeling that your be- 
loved is yours, and that you are his ; that his left 
hand is under your head, and that his right hand 
embraces you ? In a word, do you find there the 
| : of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God 3 
and the communion of the holy ghost ? 

You feel that the life of a christian ought to be a 

constant preparation for death, and as it is contrary 

to good sense to take those diversions in winch we 

would not that death should find us, you therefore 

leave plays, useless visits, balls, finery, romances, 

cards, U.c. to those whom the God of this world 

■-., lest they should see eternity ready to swallow 

them up : but do you redeem the time, that you may 

11 those good works which the Lord has 

prep. ou I Does the love of Christ constrain 

you, so that your duty becomes your delight ? Do 

love to - Lord Jesus in prison, and in 

Do you seek 

the poor that are c Are you merciful to the 

»st of your power, both to the bo. ies and to the 

a find more pleasure in 

ring to I, and weeping with 

I ex*- 
I I 

be to God ! You 
do not ii is But 

yd feel the sp. -A Christ r Do. 

v that ye i his 

ri'a word, are 
yo r to your*. 

t 

r 2 



50- 

generation of a child of God. Some degrees of pre : 
venting grace, and of reason and reflection, suffice 
for the first, but nothing less can effect the second, 
than a baptism of the holy ^host, and a real partici- 
pation of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Be- 
ware, [if indeed you would fly from the wrath to 
come, and see the kingdom of God, beware that you 
rest not in the former state. If you do, the Publi- 
cans and Harlots shall go into the kingdom of hea« 
Ten before you, or rather you shall never enter there- 
in. Christ himself has solemnly declared it, Matt 
v. 20. xxi. 31. Accuse us not of severity, in thus 
following eternal wisdom, and in not daring to make 
void any words written in the book of life. To flat- 
ter you in this respect would be to lose our own 
souls, and that without remedy. 

We are not ignorant that the voice of worldlings^ 
like the sound of many waters, lifts itself up on all 
sides and drowns that of the Saviour. In vain we 
declare that those who falsely call him Lord, shall 
not enter into his kingdom. In vain we cry to sin- 
Tiers to strive to enter in at the straight gate of re- 
generation, because many will seek to enter by that 
of reformation, and shall not be able. Sinners, al- 
ways incredulous and obstinate, and ever carried 
away by the multitude, refuse to hear the voice of 
their shepherd. Wolves in sheeps clothing betray 
them. Death seizes them before they are born 
again, and chains of darkness keep them bound to 
the judgment of the great day. Fools \ to be blind- 
ed by that which should open their eyey, viz. the 
multitude that are content to live without regenera- 
tion. As if Christ had not expressly said, many are 
called but few chosen ; that his flock is a little flock ; 
and that few walk in the narrow path that leads to 
life. 

Renounce, reader renounce the presumptuous 
&lly of worldlings, and if the charm be not yet bro- 



ken, suffer the grace of God to break it this mo* 
men ! Say not you are rich and need nothing. De- 
pend not on your good works, your sincerity, your 
religious duties, your own righteousness. Acknow- 
ledge, on the contrary, that as you are not born 
again, you are yet in your sins; poor and miserable^ 
and blind, and naked. Feel the necessity to buy 
gold tried in the fir e> that you may be rich; and white 
clothing, that the shame of your iiakedness may not 
ar; and to anoint thine eyes with eye-salve that 
thou mayest see. Cry out, like the penitent publican^ 
with a broken and contrite heart, or as Saul pray* 
ing day and night for the spirit of God, Lord be 
merciful to me a sinner ! Lord who shall deliver me 
from the body of this death ? Lord what shall I do 
to be born again ? If these be the desires of thy soul, 
attend to the conclusion of this discourse. There : 
you. shall see, that however dangerous your case 
may be, it is not desperate ; and you shall be con- 
vinced , that there is bairn in Gilead. You shall con- 
fess that faith in the blood of Christ can not only 
hea; the wounds of a dying sou L> but raise to life one 
that is spiritually dead. 

THE CONCLUSION. 

By what means a soul may be born again, 

GOD takes the title of, slow to anoka ; abun- 
dant IN GOODNF.SS AND TRUTH. He SWCc ,"S by 

himself, that he has no pleasure in the death of a 
sinner, but that he should be converted and live ; and 
the effects answer to those tender declarations His 
mercy has found a way to raise fallen man, ii he 
will yield) and to place him again among c til- 
dren, without wounding his justice. y is 

astonishing, unthought of, incomprehensible It sur- 
passes infinitely the conjectures of angels* and the 



52 

desires of men. And it is so infallible, that all wfef 
have a due sense of their miserable fall in Adam; all 
those who feel that they can no more regenerate 
themselves than they can create a new heavens and 
a new earth, may come to God, and receive, regene* 
ration freely and by grace, and a right to the king- 
dom of heaven. 

Reader, you have heard of this remedy a thousand 
times. But on the one hand, knowing neither your 
indigence nor your malady;- and on the other, hav- 
ing your understanding darkened by your unbelief, 
you have neither, perhaps, considered nor appre- 
hended as a christian the things which belong to 
your peace. May you receive them now as the gos- 
pel of Christ, which is the power of God unto sali- 
vation to every one that believeth J 

Know then that the regeneration which we preach., 
is nothing else than the two great operations of the 
spirit of God upon a penitent soul. The first, called 
justification^ or the remission of sins, is that gratuity 
ous act ofjthe divine mercy, by which God pardons 
the sinner, who believes in Jesus, all his past sins, 
and imputes his faith to him for righteousness 
cause feeling that he has no righteousness, that be 
can do no work that is good in the sight of God, he 
submits to the righteousness of God. He receives 
with his heart, Jesus Christ as his Saviour, his gra- 
tuitous Saviour, his sole Saviour, and he knows that 
he has received him because God fills him with 
peace and joy in believing, and because he receives 
dominion overall his sins. 

This dominion over sin, which the believer receives 
With the remission of his past sins, is the beginning 
or foundation of the second part of regeneration, 
d in the holy scripture, sanctificaUon. For in the 
same moment chut the sinner receives this 
the faith which justifies ; at the same mon t 

the spirit of God witnesses with his spirit, that. hi£» 



sins are pardoned, he receives the power to foVfc 
much, as he feels that he has much forgiven. 1 he 
love of God being thus shed abroad in his heart, 
causes an extraordinary revolution in all the powers- 
of his soul, and makes him feel, though perhaps in 
a low degree, the effects of the new birth, described 
in the second part of this discourse. 

We are far from concluding that the body of sin 
is destroyed by this circumcision of the heart, this 
first relevation of Christ in the soul of a sinner. No, 
the old man is only crucified with Christ; and al- 
though he cannot act as before, he lives still, and seeks 
occasion to disengage himself, and to exercise his 
tyranny with more rage than ever. David and St. 
Peter had painful experience of this; and hence we 
see that sanctification is not generally the work of a 
flay, nor or a yes*?. Far although God can cut short 
his work in righteousness, as the penitent thief found 
it aforetime, and as many sinners called at the ele- 
venth hour have found it ever since, it is nevertheless 
in general a progressive work, and of long duration, 
We therefore define sanctification to be that power- 
ful work of the holy spirit upon the heart of a par- 
doned sinner, by which he receives power to go on 
from faith to faith ; by which- illuminated more and 
more to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus 
Christ, and renewed day by day in the image of his 
Saviour, which he had lost in Adam, he feels himself 
internally changed from glory into glory, until he 
is filled with all the fullness of God : until he loves 
the Lord his God with ail his heart and with all his 
soul, and with all his strength, and his neighbor as 
himself, even as Christ loved him. 1 his is the 
highest point of the sanctification of a believer, and 
consequently his regeneration is complete. 

Sanctification cannot therefore begin before justi- 
fication ; for seeing that the spirit of God sanctifies 
the heart of a sinner, that spirit must be received. 



But he is not received but in the shiners being par- 
doned. For, according to scripture, the first opera- 
tion of the spirit of adoption is to cry Abba, Fatht 
in the heart of which he takes possession ; to testify- 
to the spirit of the believer that he is a child of God, 
and to give him the foretaste of his.heav he- 

ritance. Beside, reason convinces us, that God .can- 
not communicate his nature, and the graces of ins 
spirit, to a man whose sirs lie has not yet pardoned, 
A king is not bountiful to a rebellious subject before 
be restores him to his favor. 

Thus our church* also declares in her thirteenth* 
article, " that works done before the grace of 
Christ and the inspiration of his spirit are not plea- 
ssnt to God, forasmuch s tey spring not of faith 
in Jesus Christ ; yea, rather for that they are not 
done as God has willed and commanded thej» to he 
Gone, we cioudi not out they have the nature of sin, 
however good they may appear to men." 

This being admitted, it is evident that for a sin- 
ger to know how he is to be regenerated, he is to 
consider how he may be justified and sanctified. 
Upon this the scripture is clear. By grace ye are 
sav<d, says St. Paul, through faith, and that not of 
yourselves it is the gift of God, not of 'works, lest any 
man should boast, being, created anew ?n Christ Jtsus 
unto good works. As if the apostle had said, by the 
faith God has freely given you, you are saved from 
your sins ; delivered from the punishment which 
they deserve, by justification, and from their domi- 
nion over you by sanctification. Hence you are re- 
generated and new creatures. Thus St Paul de- 
clares that a living faith is the gate of salvation, and 
all the scripture declares it with him. tie who be- 
lieveth shall be saved, says Jesus Christ ; he who 
believeth hath everlasting life, and shall not come 
into condemnation, but is passed from death unt'V 

*• The church of England* 



fife. And St, John shells us that this passing from 
fleath unto life, and regeneration is the same thing. 
He who believeth is born of GoH, says he, in his first 
epistle, and in his gospel he declares, that those who 
receive Christ, to them he .gives power to become 
the sons of God, even to those who believe on his 
name, who are born not of the will of man but of 
God. 

Our church declares the same thing. In her ho- 
milies she teaches, that the only instrument neces- 
sary to salvation is faith, which is there defined, u a 
sure and firm confidence, that, through the merits of 
Christ, our sins are forgiven, and we reconciled to 
God" 

Observe here, reader, with respect to faith, none 
can enjoy it but those who have felt their need of it. 
Jesus Christ never gives this sweet assurance, this 
testimony of his spirit, but to those whose hearts are 
really contrite. Come to me, says he, all ye who la- 
bor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He 
invites no others, he comforts no others. Before the 
spirit of God convinces the world of righteousness, 
he convinces of sin, because they believe not in Je- 
sus. None can come to the son for justifying faith, 
unless the father draw him by a sense of his sins, 
and by the fear of that punishment which he me 
nts. 

If these truths have dissipated your doubts. If 
you no longer halt between God and BaaL If you 
are convinced that you can never see the kingdom 
cf God, without being born again, and that the sole 
means of obtaining this blessing, is by a faith of the 
operation of God, and which is the power of God 
unto salvation ; a faith by which Christ is revealed 
in us, and we obtain peace with God. A faith which 
is the substance of th ngs hoped Jc arid the evidence of 
th ' rigs not s e en. Which points, 1 i k e Jo h n t h e h a/, t ist y 
to tjie Lamb of God who taketh way the sii) of the 



36 

world, and who freely and graciously gives this 
feith to those who earnestly seek it. Come then, 
dear reader, come to the throne of grace ; but come 
condemned by your conscience, burdened by the 
weight of your iniquities, and pierced with a sense 
of your unbelief, and hardness of heart. Implore 
the mercy of your judge until he shews himself your 
father in giving you the spirit of adoption ; your 
Jesus in saving you from your sins ; your Christ in 
giving you the unction of the holy spirit ; your 
Emanuel in revealing himself in you, and dwelling 
in your heart by faith. 

He invites you himself. Ho! every one that 
thirsteth com^ ye to the waters '! You who have no mo- 
ney, who are poor in spirit, who tremble at my wurd, 
come, buy wine and milk without money and without 
price. Why do ye s fiend your money for that which is 
not bread, and your labour for that which satisfi-th 
not ? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat that which is 
good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Come 
to me I Hearken I And I will make an everlasting 
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David, 
and your soul shall live. In the great day of the feast ', 
Jesus Cried) saying, if any man thirst let him come to 
vie and drink. He who believeth in me, out of his belly 
shall flow rivers of living water. And this, says St. 
John, spake he of the spirit which they who believe on 
him should receive ; for the spirit was nut yet given 
because that Jesus wa not yet glorified. 

But Jesus is glorified; he is ascended to his fa- 
ther, and to our father, to his God, and to our God ! 
And from the throne of his glory he sends every 
day. into contrite hearts, the comforter, whom the 
wo r id cannot receive, because it desires not to know 
him. But you afflicted Soul, shall receive him, if 
indeed you pant after him, and refuse to be comfort- 
ed until he c9v>?s. The time cometh, yea is now 
Come, that you shall worship the father in spirit and 



37 

in truth ; and filled with the spirit of truth you also 
3hail cry out, I know in whom I have believed ! 
Lord now let thy servant go in peace for mine eyes 
have seen thy salvation ! Yes, you shall be baptised 
with the holy ghost for the remission of sins, and 
justified freely by faith. You shall have peace with 
God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and rejoice in 
Gtid your Saviour with joy unspeakable and full of 
glory. A*k, and it shall be given you : seek and 

\dl find : knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 
Jfye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your 
how much more shall your heavenly father 
give his holy spirit to them that ask him ? Doubt not 
the fidelity of God ! Consider the promise is unto 
you, and to your children, and to all who are afar off, 
whom the Lord your God shall call. The God of 
truth has made this glorious promise. Pray that it 
may be sealed upon your heart ! But pray with all 
prayer, and supplication at all times ! watching 
thereunto with all perseverance. - And remember, 

when your prayer is granted you shall be in 
Christ a new creature. The spirit of God shall bear 
witness to your spirit that you are a child of God, 
and that your faith is really that which justifies and 
regenerates 

Take heed in the mean time, that impatience and 
unbelief mingle not with the sense of the r-umber 
and greatness of your sins, and so plunge you into 
discouraging and excessive sorrow. Are you tempt- 
ed to doubt of the mercy of God? Re-animate your 
hope by meditating on the invitations of the God of 
ail grace, and the promises of the God of truth. Is 
your soul spiritually sick, yea dying ? Consider that 
Jesus has said, the whole have no need of a physica?i t 
but those who are sick. It is spiritually dead ? Heark- 
en to God manifest in the flesh, I am the reiurrec- 
Hon. and the life ; he that believe th in me though he were 
. he live, and he %yho liveth and believeth 
V 



38 

in me shall never die ? You feel that you are lost, 
Jesus says expressly, lam not sent but to the lost 
shee/i of the house of Israel. The son of man is come 
to seek and to save t that which was lost. Do you 
doubt if he will receive you ? He says himself he 
will not break a bruised reed, nor quench the smoak- 
ing flax. He that cometh unto me I will in no wise 
cast out. Do you feel that it is impossible such a 
corrupt soul as yours should be regenerated ? Jesus 
says to you, believe , and you shall see the glory of 
God: all things are possible to him that believeth. 
Do you say you have no power ? Remember, power 
belongeth unto God. I will put my laws, says he, 
in your mind, and write them in your heart. I will 
be to you a God, and you shall be to me a people. 
Do you doubt if God can with justice pardon sins as 
great as yours? Come, says he, let us reason toge- 
ther ; though your sins were as scarlet they shall be 
white as snow, though red as crimson, yet shall they be 
as wool. Yts, says St. John, if we confess our sins, 
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to 
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

Immortal spirit, who readest these promises, why 
tarriest thou? Why do you not cry out with tran- 
sport, the Lord is faithful to pardon my sins ! He^ 
has promised and he will do it. I will then con- 
fess them to him day and night with tears : I will 
not give rest to my eyes, till they have seen the sal- 
vation of God. Consider! It is because the al- 
B&ighty is just that he will cleanse you from all sin. 
Yes, his son, his only son, has satisfied divine jus- 
tice for you. The stroke aimed at you has fallen 
upon his innocent head. The heavenly victim 
stretched upon the cross, has been devoured by the 
fire of that eternal vengeance which flamed against 
you. The odour of this all perfect sacrifice has re- 
conciled that God who is a consuming fire to the 
sinner. The biood of the new covenant has flowed : 
it has made a propitiation for your sins. This blood, 



fir from crying for vengeance like that of Mel, me- 
rits, demands, obtains for you, repentance, faith, re- 
generation, and eternal life. The Pascal lamb, the 
lamb without spot or blemish, is sacrificed for you. 
God withholds the arm of the destroying angel, until 
this precious blood shall be sprinkled upon your 
soul ; until you are born again. The holy Jesus 
who fears lest you should perish in your impeni- 
tence, hastes to offer you life eternal. Behold, says 
he, I stand at the door and knock. If any man Juar 
my voice and often the door, I will corns in to him 
sufi with him and he with me. He says to you by 
the mouth of his apostle, that he who hath n. 
hath life^ and he who hath not the son oj God hath not 
life but the wrath of God abideth on him. He exl 
you by his servant David, to kiss the son lest hr be 
angry, and you perish from the way, if his wra 
kir.died but a little. Oh! Reader, grateful) 
those kind invitations ; prostrate yourself ? r 
of the son of God, open the door of ymir heart to 
him, and cry incessantly, come in, Lord Jesus, come 
in! Confess your poverty, your sins, your m. 
until the kingdom of God is within you. Mou;v till 
you are comforted : hunger and thirst after righte- 
ousness till you are satisfied ; and travail in birth till 
Christ is formed within you : tili being born of God 
you bear the image of the heavenly Adam, as you 
have borne the image of the earthly. 

I conjure you by the majesty of that God before 
whom angels rejoice with trembling ! By the terror 
of the Lord, who may speak to you in thunder and 
this instant require vour soul of you ! By the tender 
mercies, the bowels of compassion of your heavenly 
father, which are moved in your favour, all ungrate- 
fill as you are! I conjure you by the incarnation 
of the eternal world, by whom you were crer cd : 
by the humiliation, the pains, the temptations-, the 
tears, the bloody sweat, the agony, the cries of our 
great God and Saviour Jesus Christ ! I conjure you 



40 

by the bonds, the Insults, the scourgings, the robes- 
of derision, the crown of thorns, the ponderous cross, 
the hails, the instruments of death which pierced his 
torn body I By the arrows of the Almighte;, the 
poison of which drank up his spirit I By that myste- 
rious stroke of wrath divine, and by those unknown 
terrors which forced him to cry out, my Goeh my 
God, why hast though forsaken me ! I conjure you 
by the interests of your immortal souk and by the 
unseen accidents which may precipitate you into 
eternity I By the bed of death, upon which you will 
jsoon be stretched, and by the useless sighs which 
you will then pour out, if your peace be not made 
with God 1 I conjure you by the sword of divine 
justice, and by the sceptre of grace ! By the sound 
of the last trumpet, and by the sudden, appearance 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, v/ith ten thousand of his 
holy angels! By that august tribunal, at which you 
wii! appear with me, and which shall decide our lot 
forever! By the ■. vain, despair of hardened sinners, 
and by the unknown transport of regenerate souls ! 
I conjure you from this install work out your sal- 
vation with fear and trembling. Lnter by the door 
into the sheepfold' : sell ail to purchase the pearl of 
great price : count all things dung and dross in 
comparison of the excellency of the knowledge of 
Jesus Christ ! Let him not go till he blesses you 
with that faith which justifies, and that sanctiiica- 
tion without which no man shall see the Lord J 
And soon transported from this vale of tears, into 
the mansion of the just made perfect, you si 
your crown of immortal glory at the feet of him 
that sitteth upon the throne, and before the iamb, 
has redeemed us by hishiood: to whom be tht- 
;ing, and the honor, and the glory, and the pow 
veri Amen. 



i 



r 

n1* 



3dcc roc 



^<^cxcr<r 
c :.<■■ <r<- 
<3T 












dF t c 

c C 


















C5J 


^C:c 




O 

r ■ 


X8 






'"" "cc'o 



cm c c c <^c:<:« ffg ^ 



c«<C 



cc<6<(C< <? 



«« 






c<- <rc«T 



«<:~f^tc:~ &380K 

v cc ^^/ ''t ^: ; ,C 

5c « <i 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: August 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 16065 
(724)779-2111 



cc c «&<■■<. ^Hp. 









C 4CS<< 



C<T'<*:;c :*a$C 






- < < c CO 



5 c( <« 






lc V <£& 



i ~<r v <c c 

^cT Ccc,C 

c 

o C 

i c ■ 



jCCC 

CTcc CZ _ 

ocY: ' 

jeer 

-Gccccgc 

c cc: <: 

> r< cross 

CC OCCx 

c <^c «<c< 



_ C< 

tree <^ 
"esse* 

Sussex « S^ -8P?c^<r«cKr< 



::c e 

' c ccox 
TTcS re 

<T<: 

c C«& 



JP 




9 




E: 




J^ 


T« 


5^ 



- <^c<g3C c «r«:c5X^c 
* cr^ccc c:<?r <<r<cc x ccci 



^^ cc c 

■r<ccz- 



\ <3C"C 

^cCC3^0 
K<e c^prcc 



^CT_C 

3^? c 
ng: sec < 






rc«vf 

-C C (• c < 

"c on 

: c c 

c C< 

< c< 



rrf^ ^cc<TC^< C< 



